The Missouri Secretary of State’s office is going to recount the results of Amendment 1, better known as the “Right-To-Farm” amendment, that squeaked to victory at the ballot box on August 5.
The amendment won by 2,490 votes, or less than a quarter percent.
Former state senator Wes Shoemyer, a Democrat, requested the recount. He led the opposition group Missouri’s Food for America.
“We owe it to the people to be sure that we have got every vote counted and that we’ve checked everything out that we can to ensure that we have all the confidence in the world in this vote,” Shoemyer said.
Dan Kleinsorge, the executive director of Missouri Farmers Care, is one of the leading voice in favor of the amendment. He said the recount is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
“We don’t think the results are going to change especially because we got pretty modern vote-counting equipment now,” Kleinsorge said. “We think it’s kind of unnecessary but we are going to prepare for it and make sure we have a fair recount, which I’m sure we will.”
Secretary of State Jason Kander set up a website that lets the public track the recount process. The website will update daily and list each local election authority’s schedule and findings. It will also post a summary of recount results.
Kander’s office must finalize the results before September 15.
